Wednesday, July 01, 2020

An SOB But At Least Not Russia's SOB

The last bastion of Soviet governance creaks on in Belarus where the autocrat has to stiff-arm Russian efforts to dominate the state while keeping Russian subsidies flowing:

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on Thursday accused Russia and Poland of interfering in an upcoming presidential election, claims that were quickly denied by the Kremlin.

The strongman leader of authoritarian ex-Soviet state is seeking his sixth term as president in the election scheduled for August 9.

The interference is coming from "those who live in Poland and those who incite from Russia," Lukashenko said at a meeting with newly appointed government officials.

No doubt free people in Poland have commented on the election across their border. But I suspect Lukashenko only mentioned Poland so he didn't have to just highlight Russian pressure, which is the only real threat to Belarus independence.

But Poland and all of NATO have a great interest in what happens in the most important territory in Europe.

Lukashenko is surely a son of a bitch. But as long as he isn't Putin's son of a bitch we can live with that.